


cocoon

by watery_melon_baller



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (kinda), Angst, Body Horror, Corrupted Steven Universe, Corruption, Gen, Horror, Hurt No Comfort, Squick, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:13:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28160715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watery_melon_baller/pseuds/watery_melon_baller
Summary: When a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, it destroys itself to be created anew.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	cocoon

**Author's Note:**

> *heelies over with a SUF fic a year late* whats up fuckers
> 
> this is a lilac fic, i wanted to try writing something creepy :)

Steven had been feeling... _weird_ , today.

When he woke up, his whole body felt achy and hurting. He had managed to muster up the energy to go downstairs, but he had stopped at some point and was now lying on the couch. His brain felt like mush, and all of his thoughts felt... drippy.

And he was sweating. A lot.

He didn’t feel very hot, though. He was just, sweating for no reason. He had wiped his face off with a blanket, but the sweat had just come back. His arms felt slick, and everything felt sticky and uncomfortable.

He sighed, turning the fan onto the highest setting. He wasn’t hot, but he had hoped that maybe it would cool him down. Unfortunately, it just seemed to be even worse now.

He rubbed his arm, shuddering at the odd texture. His sweat felt oddly thick, like clay. He quickly wiped his hand on his pant leg, noticing the odd stain it left behind, but not really caring.

A droplet of sweat dripped down his nose.

He felt miserable, uncomfortable in his own skin. He would have preferred the glowing and swelling to whatever this was.

As if it was reading his thoughts, his gem faintly pulsed, glowing dimly in response.

_Drip. Drip._

He looked up, searching for any cracks in the roof. There shouldn’t have been any, since Bismuth was the one who had built it, but who knows? Maybe he had fucked up the roof somehow with his freaky Diamond powers. He had fucked up everything else, why not this?

The dripping continued.

He stood up, intent on finding the leak and fixing it. He might as well do _something_ useful while he was here. The gems were going to get sick of him just freeloading and being useless eventually.

He felt sticky and uncomfortable as he walked around the house. The leak wasn’t getting and louder, but it wasn’t getting any quieter either. It sounded like it was always...right..behind...him…

He clenched his arm as he turned around. The dripping stopped.

Behind him, there was a small trail of droplets. The size of them slowly increased as they got closer to him.

They weren’t water droplets.

The dripping started again.

His arm felt oddly soft and malleable. He slowly brought his hand to his face, his sweat feeling thick and clammy.

On his palm, there was an odd...substance. It felt thick and weird, like wax melting in the sun.

It was the color of his skin.

“Wh-what?” He whispered, brain short-circuiting as he tried to process. 

In response, his gem glowed.

As if responding to his panic, the dripping started again. He watched as pieces of himself melted off of him, landing onto the floor. A particularly large glob of (himself no not himself it couldn’t be) fell onto the floor, splattering over the wooden boards.

He watched numbly as a few stray droplets landed onto his toes.

He felt like a droplet of water running down a shower; slowly dripping, leaving pieces of himself behind as he fell down, down, down.

He took one step back, then another. His gem was glowing brighter, and in the back of his head an odd melody was playing, eerily familiar yet new. “Wh-I-no-” He stuttered, heart racing.

He needed-he needed-

What did he need?

He desperately scrambled for his phone, opening up his recent calls, brain suddenly in overdrive. He didn’t know who was on the other end, just as long as it was someone, anyone-

His phone rang as he pressed call on his most recent contact. Once, twice. 

He suddenly regretted it, cursing himself for this moment of weakness. The gems were all busy with school, they didn’t need him calling and ruining their day. And Connie wasn’t an option, not after his failed-

He felt himself melting faster.

“Hello?”  
  


Oh, it was his dad. 

_Oh_ , it was his _dad._

Relief quickly turned into terror and he couldn’t stifle his sob. “Dad, I’m sorry for calling-”

“Hey, what’s wrong Schtu-ball? Do you need me to come over?”

“No, I’m fine, everything’s fine-”  
  


“I’m coming over right now, you’re at the house, right?” The sound of a door opening and closing.

“Dad, seriously, don’t come over, I’m fine-”  
  


The sound of an engine starting. “Just hang in there, I’ll be right over-”

He sobbed again, watching as a chunk of his arm fell to the floor. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please don’t come over, I don’t want you to see this-”  
  


“Steven.” His dad's tone went deadly serious. “What exactly are you apologizing for?”

Steven sobbed again. “I’m so sorry.” He reached out through blurry eyes, and ended the call, his finger smearing the phone screen. It _hurt_ , wiping his skin on the screen, and he let a tear fall.

He forced himself up (and when had he fallen?), taking unsteady steps to the bathroom. He felt himself dripping onto the floor, his body sticking to everything he touched. It hurt so badly, he could barely concentrate on his goal, the song growing ever louder.

He stumbled into the bathroom, leaving sticky, dripping handprints on the doorframe. If he could just reach the Diamond water, then maybe-

He stared at himself in the mirror, horrified at his reflection.

He looked like a wax figure left too long in the sun. His face was slightly deformed, and looked softer, easy to shape and mold. There was a sheen of sweat (not sweat _not sweat_ ) covering his skin, looking as if it was about to fall apart. He watched as his cheek dripped with his own melting skin.

But his eyes were the worst.

They were dark and fractaled, somehow completely black and yet shimmering with color, almost like crystals. They reminded him of a butterfly’s eyes, somehow.

He screamed, and punched the mirror, shattering it with his fist. He watched it fracture, his melting skin smearing all over the mirror. There were shards in his arm, but it didn’t hurt. Not really. His whole body already hurt, feeling like it had been dipped in acid. He smeared his arm against the counter, smearing the glass shards onto the cool countertop with it. The song in his head grew louder, more intense, and it _hurt_.

His head pounded as he flung open the cabinet over the sink, rummaging through it and knocking over bottles. He grabbed the Diamond essences and desperately poured them into the sink, because this had to be gem related, what else could it be-

He let his tears drip into the sink as he stuck his hands in, and it was glowing pink and yellow and blue and white but it wasn’t working, why wasn’t it working?

It was him, he realized with sudden clarity. The problem was him.

He stumbled back, terrified, trying not to collapse. The song in his head grew louder, an eerie sound that said _wrong wrong wrong,_ that felt like silverware scraping against a plate. He was falling apart, his limbs feeling heavy and burning in pain. His mind felt fuzzy, and it was hard to think. 

Staggering out of the bathroom, he collapsed onto his knees, leaving a gooey trail behind him. He was hurting so bad, the pain unbearable, and he would do anything to stop it. But it just kept getting worse and worse, and he didn’t want to die, _not like this_ -

He was full on crying now, the floor a mixture of himself and his tears. Death was supposed to stop the pain, wasn’t it? It wasn’t supposed to hurt, wasn’t supposed to rip him apart and burn like this.

The door creaked open. “Steven? Buddy, where are-”

A distressed shout, and the squeak of the floorboards as his father took a step towards him, hesitant. Steven could barely see anything, so exhausted and in so much pain that he could barely move. He desperately turned towards the noise.

He could see his dad standing at the door, hand over his mouth, the other clenched at his side, clearly terrified. “Schtu-ball, what-”

Steven, feeling so terribly, terribly selfish, reached out towards him. “Dad, Dad!”

He stepped closer, clearly wary. “Steven, what’s happening to you? I texted the gems, they should be here any minute.” 

He texted the gems? No no no, they didn’t need to see him like this!

His vision blurred and split, his brain fracturing in his skull. The song was deafening now, drawing out any rational thoughts. He screamed in agony, tears dripping down his face.

The only thing going through Steven’s mind was _pain_ and _make it stop, please!_ Feeling like a child, he reached out again. He tried to crawl over, but he felt too weak to move. He could faintly feel his legs sticking to the floorboards, pieces of himself being ripped apart.

“Dad, please! Help me!” He sobbed desperately (selfishly).

His dad took a step forward, hands in front of him. “Just hang on, the gems are almost here!”  
  


“DAD, PLEASE!”

He knew he should be trying to hold on, but everything hurt so badly, and he was just so, _so_ tired. It would just be so much better to give in, wouldn’t it? The haunting song increased in volume, agreeing with him. Everyone would be better off if he did.

He sobbed again. “Dad,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“STEVEN!”

The last sound he heard before everything went black was the sound of the warp pad. As he closed his eyes, he felt something deep inside him **_s n a p._ **

**Author's Note:**

> i used to be in the suf fandom back in february, when the show was coming out of its hiatus, and i saw this incredible fanart of steven melting, and the artist said something about how when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, it wraps itself in a cocoon and all of its organs dissolve into goo. I was amazed and horrified and moved on with my life, until 1am last night when my brain pulled it up out of nowhere and said it would be a good fic idea. so. yeah. 
> 
> if y'all know what fanart I'm talking about (I found it on Instagram but it could be on another site too) then pls give me a link bc I would love to link it
> 
> anyways go drink water or eat or take ur meds love y'all byee :)
> 
> edit: found the post [here!](https://www.instagram.com/p/B8EPMfiFOTu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)


End file.
